1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to an assembly for retaining food on a shelf in a refrigerator.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the art of refrigerators, fresh food compartment doors are generally formed from an outer metal shell to which is attached a plastic inner wall defining liner. It is known to provide such liners with shelving units to support a wide range of food items. Such shelving units can be constituted by planar dike portions of the liner, pick-off buckets removably attached to the liner, or the like. In any case, when supporting food items on such shelving units, it is desirable to prevent the food items from becoming dislodged or shifting upon a sudden movement of the fresh food compartment door.
To prevent food items from undesirably shifting, it is known to employ a divider which essentially separates a storage shelving unit into various, smaller sections, thereby limiting the permissible shifting of food items stored thereon. It is also known to provide a slidable retainer in connection with a refrigerator shelving unit wherein the retainer can be manually slid into engagement with one or more food items supported on the shelving unit in order to limit shifting of the food items. One exemplary arrangement of this type is disclosed in connection with a dairy compartment in U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,390. In this and other known divider and retainer arrangements, it is imperative that the consumer force the divider or retainer snugly against the food items in order for the structure to function as desired.
Regardless of the availability of dividers and retainers for limiting the shifting of food items stored on refrigerator shelving units, there still exists a need in the art for a retainer assembly which will automatically function to limit the movement of food items stored on a shelving unit. Particularly, there exists a need for a versatile retainer assembly that can securely hold items of varying shapes and sizes in desired positions, while enabling the retainer assembly to be automatically repositioned when individual items are removed.